The thing we call romance is a diversion from something truer, which is life.

in the place I am from ... a grave is topped off with a huge mound of loose earth - carelessly, as if piled up in child's play, not serious at all - because death is just another way of being, and the dead will not stay put, and sometimes the actions of the dead are more significant, more profound, than their actions in life, and no structure of concrete or stone can contain them.

The sound of words in a novel is a pretty amazing thing, and I am concerned with the sound of every word I write.

Who you are is a mystery no one can answer, not even you.

I didn't know it was possible to be successful as a writer, so I wasn't afraid to fail.

What I really want to write about is injustice and justice, and the different ways human beings organize the two.

The past is a room full of baggage and rubbish and sometimes things that are of use, but if they are of real use, I have kept them.